


Never Underestimate the Warmth

by stevesnosebump



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Bucky feeding Steve, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Skinny Dipping, Stargazing, Steve Rogers is retired, White Wolf Bucky Barnes, but like he’s normal, yes i said it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25531789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stevesnosebump/pseuds/stevesnosebump
Summary: Self-indulgent fic about retired Steve vacationing in Wakanda with Bucky. And they are so in love.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 18
Kudos: 86





	Never Underestimate the Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> well, carol (stevebuckiest on here :) ) asked if I’d ever write a fic about Steve and Bucky in Wakanda and when I said “hm, I don’t know,” they decided to share their headcanon of the two of them stargazing and being Very Gay and In Love and...I couldn’t resist.... 
> 
> ps: title is from the song “The Warmth” by Fat Night, a band I love and respect so very much....

The days in Wakanda tend to get quite hot, a heat that Bucky and Steve aren’t too used to, but they both love staying there regardless. It’s where the two of them head for a much needed vacation once Steve announces his retirement and there isn’t another fight Bucky has to join in on. So they get to relax, and sleep in late without any rush to wake up, and spend their days and nights together, the type of peaceful intimacy that’s been lacking in their lives over the past few years. 

Bucky loves mornings like this one—there’s nothing better than waking up to the sun warming your skin, limbs and head feeling all syrupy in the best way. Waking up pressed against Steve’s bare chest, with a nose nuzzled in the crook of his neck, or soft kisses ghosting over a shoulder (or anywhere Steve’s lips can reach, really) on the mornings when Steve is awake but too lazy to move, kisses that somehow feel more gentle than they should, considering how thick Steve’s beard has gotten. 

Wakanda lets Bucky feel at ease, doesn’t make him panic about being triggered into The Winter Soldier again or make him feel like some monster for doing things he couldn’t control. And having Steve by his side, without the weight of Captain America on his shoulders, makes him feel even better—he feels _free_ for the first time in far too long. He hasn’t known this feeling—both the tranquility of life and the warmth of Steve’s presence—since before the war, back when it was just the two of them in their shared Brooklyn apartment with hot cocoa and cuddles in the winter and fireworks and trips to Coney Island in the summer. 

“Morning,” Steve rasps into Bucky’s ear when he notices the man wrapped in his arms is awake. 

Bucky turns his head and gives Steve a quick kiss, mumbling a greeting to his lips. Morning breath be damned—he has over seventy years to make up for. 

The only thing that pulls Bucky out of Steve’s tight embrace is his goats. He loves his goats, absolutely adores them and actually looks forward to caring for them. They kept him company when he was apart from Steve and felt truly alone. They managed to cheer him up when he was at his lowest—those days when he could hardly get out of bed and face the day, when he blamed himself for everything he’d done under Hydra’s control, when he wished he could enter a state more permanent than cryostasis to keep the world safe. 

“Mm, gotta get up,” Bucky mumbles into one last kiss before he pulls out of Steve’s embrace and climbs out of bed, making Steve whine dramatically. 

But Steve can’t complain much when he gets to admire Bucky for a moment, still naked from the night before—but that’s not the _only_ thing he admires about Bucky’s current state—his shoulders are relaxed, too, and he isn’t wearing the metal arm. Both of those are clear signs to Steve that Bucky feels comfortable, secure, happy. That’s a victory to Steve; he loves to see his boyfriend happy, hasn’t seen it nearly enough in the past few years. 

He watches as Bucky gets himself ready, putting his hair into a bun and getting dressed, carefully securing cloth around his neck and bringing it down to cover where his left arm should be. He says it isn’t necessarily to hide the fact that he’s missing an arm, but Steve knows it can still be a painful subject for him. Bucky is still struggling to accept his new body, sometimes wonders how Steve can still love him when he looks like this, how Steve can still want his touch when his metal hand will never be as gentle and soft and sweet as his flesh one was. But Steve does want his touch, despite how jarring the cool metal of his fingertips can feel sometimes. No matter what the form, he wants his Bucky.

None of that matters right now, though—Bucky is smiling at Steve, and he looks so beautiful and undeniably happy. That’s the smile Steve has started way too many fights for, and he knows he’d gladly do it again. 

So they go out to feed the goats together, feeling the rising sun heating their skin and the breeze cooling it right back off. Bucky is real proud of how big his goats have gotten, practically begs Steve to take a few pictures, and of course Steve can’t say no. That’s why his phone holds almost exclusively pictures of Bucky. 

He’s looking over the pictures he snapped—three, just in case the other two didn’t turn out right—and his heart really starts to swell, then. He knows it’s a bit ridiculous to feel so much from a picture, a moment frozen in time of something Steve got to experience in person, but seeing the joy that radiates off the pictures makes Steve feel so damn much. Bucky’s smiling so wide the crinkles by his eyes are pronounced, and it shows how genuine the smile is; you could cover Bucky’s mouth and his eyes would still showcase his happiness.

“Are you done? Can I stop posing now?” Bucky calls to him, still holding a goat in his arms and trying to stay still in case Steve needs another photo, despite how harsh the sun beating down on the back of his neck feels. 

“Yeah, these pictures look good,” Steve smiles to him, walking back over so they can be close again—not that Steve was even that far away, he just likes to be in Bucky’s bubble now. It’s a subconscious act, really, something that developed recently out of a deep-seated fear of losing Bucky again if Steve lost sight of him. It’s not an issue, really, it’s not like Steve is being overly clingy or childish, and the both of them have sought professional help to deal with their trauma. It’s just Steve being Steve, wanting to be near the one man who makes him feel safe and wanted and truly knows _him,_ Steven Grant Rogers, not the alpha male persona of Captain America. 

“It’s already getting hot,” Bucky mumbles, closing the bag of goat feed after enduring each goat had gotten its fair share. “Let’s go swimming.” 

“You wanna go swimming?” 

“Yeah, why not? Water will probably cool us right back off. Plus, it’s not like anyone will see,” he says nonchalantly, already headed in the direction of a nearby lake. 

“Well, I didn’t bring any swim shorts...” he follows Bucky anyway. 

“Well that isn’t a problem,” Bucky smirks.

Steve knows what Bucky is suggesting, and he really shouldn’t be nervous about it, they’ve seen one another naked plenty of times, and Bucky has always marveled at his body, both when it was small and sickly and when it evolved him into the beast of a man he is now. He can’t help it, though. The attention he gets in his new body—and that’s how it still feels to him, at times: new, like it doesn’t really belong to him, even though he’s had plenty of years to adjust to his new stature—makes him a little uncomfortable at times, always cringing when someone reaches out to touch his muscles or stares at his body for too long. Bucky has never made him feel uncomfortable or ashamed, but he can’t help the nerves that are running through his body at the idea of being naked. It feels so different from sex, somehow, brings more attention to the fact that he’s not wearing any clothes. 

“Unless you don’t want to. We don’t have to do it if you’re uncomfortable, Stevie,” Bucky reassures him, knowing what Steve is thinking without even having to turn to look at him. 

Steve catches up to him and grabs his hand. “I want to. It’ll be fun.” 

Bucky lifts the hand clasped in his own to his lips and gives it a gentle kiss. “Come on then.” 

——  
Bucky starts stripping his clothes off the second they reach the lake, doesn’t even hesitate as he begins to unwrap the cloth covering his arm and then moves on to the rest of his clothes. Steve isn’t sure if he should look away, but it’s not like that matters anyway—he can’t get his eyes off Bucky. Watching his muscles flex as he frees himself from the confines of his clothes makes a blush rise to Steve’s cheeks, has him practically fighting against the urge not to reach out and touch him, just to make sure he’s actually real. 

“When I suggested we go skinny dipping, I meant the both of us. Or do you just want to watch?” The question drips with sarcasm, Bucky looking at a flustered Steve with a shit-eating grin. 

Steve rolls his eyes, trying to play off how flustered he really feels even though he knows the effort is useless. He takes his clothes off too, and then rushes after Bucky, who had taken off running toward the water the second Steve got all his clothes off. 

Splashing around in the water makes Steve feel like a little kid again, like those summers spent doing cannonballs into the public pool and swimming for hours on end. 

They swim in the lake for longer than they realize, too busy splashing and dunking one another to notice how much time has passed. There’s no end in sight to their festivities until Bucky pulls Steve in close and points out that the sun is already starting to set. 

“We’ve really spent the whole day out here then, hmm?” 

“And I thought the idea of skinny dipping made you nervous,” Bucky teases, pulling Steve in close, so he can rest his head on Steve’s broad shoulder, lips brushing his neck. He breathes in, the smell of the lake mixed with Steve practically intoxicating him, and lets his hand dip down a bit farther, until it’s resting right on Steve’s ass instead of his lower back. 

“Buck...” 

“What? I can’t cuddle my sweetheart?” 

Steve chuckles as Bucky presses a kiss to his neck. “Should probably get out of here.” 

Bucky hums, lifting his head to admire Steve for a moment: his long hair is slicked back and droplets of water are dripping off the tendrils of both his hair and his thick beard. He notices that freckles have started to dot his face, clearly showing off how much time he’s been spending in the sun lately. He’s lucky the serum keeps him from burning the way he used to—Steve would look a mess and be in so much pain right now if it wasn’t for that. 

Once he’s finished admiring Steve (for now), he presses a kiss to his lips before they let go of one another and swim to shore. 

“Shit, we didn’t bring any towels,” Steve points out as he grabs his clothes. 

“Well, they say spontaneity is the spice of life,” Bucky shrugs. 

“Do they?” 

“Something like that...let’s just put our clothes on and then we can go take a shower,” Bucky pauses, looking at the steadily setting sun. “A quick shower, though. I wanna see the stars tonight. They’re always so beautiful here.” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Steve agrees, already putting his clothes back on and doing his best to ignore how uncomfortable it feels. 

They walk back in a comfortable silence, taking in how peaceful life feels at the moment. Bucky’s hand in his feels like an anchor to Steve, helps remind him that all the hell he’s gone through is worth it now that he has Bucky by his side, always and forever, to the end of the line. 

The two of them get in the shower together, since Bucky keeps reminding Steve that he really wants to go stargazing tonight. Steve tries to remind him that, “the stars will still be there in an hour, Buck,” but he doesn’t listen, already rambling about how much he loves the stars and the moon and everything else about space—as if Steve doesn’t already know that—and fumbling with the shower to get the water to the perfect temperature for the both of them. 

Steve wants them to take their time, wants to love up on Bucky a bit or have some semblance of romance in a moment that seems quite intimate, but, at the moment, Bucky isn’t having any of it. He’s already naked and in the shower before Steve can even try to suggest anything. Steve can’t even be annoyed with him, though. He knows missing out on shower sex will be worth it once they’re lying in the fields under the moon. Plus, while the swim in the lake was nice in the moment, he’s starting to feel a little gross, so a clean shower without any distractions would probably do him good. 

“At least let me wash your hair though, Buck,” Steve asks, undressed and stepping into the shower. 

“My hair’s fine.” 

“The stars will be there all night, I promise. Let me wash your hair, yeah? Just to keep it from getting all matted and gross.” 

Bucky hums and nods, letting Steve win this one fight tonight. He knows having clean hair will feel a lot better than how his hair feels now, and he knows that Steve’s fingers will make his head feel all tingly and relaxed. 

And he’s right. The moment Steve starts shampooing his hair, working his fingers into Bucky’s scalp, the tension he hadn’t even realized was there left his body. So Bucky doesn’t rush him, lets Steve really take his time washing his hair. Once the conditioner is rinsed out, Bucky decides he wants to return the favor. He turns around and twirls a finger in the air, motioning for Steve to turn around. He takes his time with Steve’s hair too, working even more intricately than Steve had with his hair. 

Steve can’t help the little moans that slip out at times, the feeling of Bucky’s fingers working through his hair just feels so soothing. 

When he finishes washing Steve’s hair, he massages his shoulders for a bit, too—just the icing on the cake to make Steve feel cared for and relaxed. Once the tension has been rubbed out of Steve’s shoulders, Bucky presses a few kisses there before whispering “Don’t you think I’ve forgotten about stargazing. Let’s finish up.” 

Steve laughs at how suddenly Bucky regained focus after compromising on his demands of a _quick_ shower, but he loves stargazing too, so he can’t complain too much. The two of them finish washing up and then they’re out of the shower, drying themselves off, getting dressed, and hastily drying their hair. 

Bucky tells Steve to head out and pick a spot, and he’ll meet up with him soon. As Steve does so, Bucky grabs a blanket they can lie on and another, lighter one they can cuddle under in case it gets too cold. Then, he grabs the first thing he can find in the kitchen—an orange—since he knows the two of them haven’t eaten much today. It doesn’t seem like much, but it can hold them for a while, and Steve has always loved oranges, he still remembers how upset Steve would get whenever the local market didn’t have any, back in the early days of the war, and how overjoyed he was whenever Bucky came home from work with an orange or two. 

Once he heads out the door, he has no problem finding Steve, who had picked a spot somewhat near the lake. He picked a really good spot actually, free from obstacles that would obscure their view and close enough to ensure they’d be able to navigate their way back in the dark. 

Steve takes the blanket from Bucky, since his only hand is currently holding the other blanket he brought. Once Steve has the blanket laid out, the two of them sit down next to one another. Steve is about to lie down and get comfortable when Bucky stops him, unraveling the light blanket to reveal the orange hidden inside. Just as Bucky had predicted, Steve lights up at the sight, blushing when Bucky tells him, “Lemme feed you a lil, darling,” and hands the orange to Steve to peel—he’s eaten so many oranges throughout his life, Lord knows he’s an expert peeler at this point. And, yeah, it’s much easier to peel an orange with two hands. 

He scoots closer to Steve, watching as he peels the orange and separates the pieces, placing them on the thin blanket. 

“Thought I said I wanted to feed you,” Bucky says when Steve reaches for a slice. The statement stops Steve in his tracks, makes him look at Bucky curiously as Bucky scoots closer to him, grabbing a slice of the fruit and holding it to Steve’s lips. Steve, like always, surrenders and lets Bucky take care of him. He opens his mouth and lets Bucky feed him. He knows he’s blushing now that he’s hyperaware of the heat of Bucky’s body, so close to his own. Bucky chuckles, a guttural sound that’s heightened in Steve’s ears since his body is so sensitive at the moment, and grabs an orange slice for himself. 

They go on like that until the orange slices are gone, Bucky switching from feeding Steve to feeding himself, and Steve blushing profusely each time Bucky’s hand heads toward Steve’s mouth. 

“Was that a good snack, darling?” Bucky asks, pulling Steve in closer. 

“Uh huh,” Steve breathes, body and mind still reeling. 

Bucky doesn’t even acknowledge how flustered Steve still sounds, just lies back and turns his attention to the stars above. 

He wishes he had a telescope with him so he could really see everything up close, but this will do. The sky is clear enough to light up with an infinite number of stars—Steve tries to count them but quickly loses track of which stars he’s counted and which ones he hasn’t—and Bucky points out all the constellations they can see. 

Steve eventually cuddles up next to Bucky, curls himself up in a way that’s almost reminiscent to how he cuddled Bucky back when he was small, before the serum. It’s almost like he forgets how big he is now, like when he wears clothes that are too small for him or when he expects Bucky’s shirts to fit him like a dress (and pouts a little when they don’t). Just like in those endearing moments, it shows in the way he cuddles, too, especially on nights like these—nights that remind them both of simpler times, when all they knew was their small apartment and the park they’d go stargazing in on summer nights. They didn’t get to cuddle like this back then, who knows what would’ve happened to them if they had even tried it. They had to hide away in a darker area of the park, and even then they had to keep their distance in case someone was watching. 

But that was then and this is now. Right now, Steve isn’t hesitant to lay his head on Bucky’s chest and hum contently when Bucky wraps his arm around Steve and gently kisses the top of his head. Right now, they look like a couple because they _are_ a couple and it doesn’t matter who sees it, because they’re in love and they have the right to show that to the entire world. 

“You know you remind me of the stars, Steve?” Bucky asks, voice quiet and a little hoarse. 

Steve lifts his head off Bucky’s chest, turning to look him in the eyes. “What do you mean?” 

“Well, you’ve got all these freckles right now. They decorate your face the same way the stars decorate the night sky,” Bucky pauses, sits up so he can caress Steve’s face before pressing a few kisses to the freckles around Steve’s nose. “And the sun is a star, too. You know that don’t you?” Steve hums in confirmation. “You’re my sun, my brightest light in life. Always have been, and I know you always will be. Don’t think there are enough words in any language to tell you how much I love you.” 

Steve is nearly breathless at this point, heart filled with so much love it almost feels like it’s about to burst. “I love you, Buck,” he tells him, leaning forward and kissing him. 

“I don’t have a ring,” he tells Steve, grabbing his left hand and looking at his ring finger, using his thumb to rub Steve’s hand. “But I know I want to marry you. Do you—Do you want to marry me?” 

Steve is breathless again, giving Bucky the sweetest smile Bucky’s ever seen. He nods his head enthusiastically, says “yes,” over and over as he kisses Bucky’s lips and pulls him into a tight hug. 

They both laugh as they pull apart from their hug, like they’re both so overjoyed but also in disbelief of what just happened. 

“Sit in my lap,” Bucky tells Steve, lightly patting his hip. 

Steve obliges, crawls into Bucky’s lap and looks into his eyes as Bucky caresses his face again, trying to count the freckles around his nose but quickly losing track. 

“You’re beautiful,” Bucky tells him, looking right into his eyes. 

Steve giggles, breaking eye contact to rest his forehead in the crook of Bucky’s neck. 

“You are,” Bucky tells him, laughing now too. “I’ve got the prettiest fiancé this world will ever see.” 

Steve’s heart flutters at the word, the reminder that they finally get to make this love official in a way Steve never would’ve imagined they’d be able to: legally, with an officiant and a certificate and maybe even a legal name change—Steve Barnes has a nice ring to it, he thinks. 

“I love you,” Steve mumbles into his neck. 

Over Steve’s shoulder, he can see the lake they’d swam in earlier in the distance and how the night sky is reflected on it. And it’s beautiful, in a way, to see the way the stars and the moon seem to shine in the lake the same way they shine in the sky. Something about it reminds him of himself and Steve, how their worlds were turned upside down and they still managed to find one another. It makes him even more grateful for this moment—what other love has survived being thrown into a new century unexpectedly? What other love has broken through years of brainwashing, fought tooth and nail against every force in its way? Bucky doesn’t think there is another, knows how unique his and Steve’s love is. And that should seem like a curse to him but it doesn’t, it doesn’t because they found one another in a century where they could love openly, and they didn’t let anything stand in their way, even when all odds were against them. 

“Mm, I love you,” Bucky hums back.

**Author's Note:**

> holy shit ao3 user stevesnosebump just posted a fic that contained no angst! zero! was she hacked? 
> 
> hopefully I did these two boys justice....my first post-serum stucky fic! this is a big day for me.


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